Columbus, Ohio – Former Ohio State women’s tennis stand out Kristy Dascoli (1999-2001) has been named assistant tennis coach for the squad, head coach Chuck Merzbacher announced Tuesday.

“I am very excited to announce Kristy will be our assistant coach,” Merzbacher said. “Her playing career at OSU is well documented. She is simply the best player in the history of our program. She made the most of her experience as a student-athlete and helped build the program to a national level. I know she will continue to help build the program as a coach.”

OSU’s all-time singles wins leader with 104, Dascoli was named Ohio State’s Player of the Century for women’s tennis and is one of the best players ever to play in the Big Ten. Dascoli was the first OSU player to be named an All-American in singles competition. She was honored as the Big Ten Player of the Year following both the 2000 and 2001 seasons and is the only player in conference history to win the award outright in back-to-back seasons. Dascoli was the Big Ten Player of the Month three times (April 1999, April 2000 and March ’01) and posted an incredible 35-4 Big Ten regular season record in her four years at OSU. In 2001, she set a program record by winning 31 overall singles matches. In addition, Dascoli played No. 1 singles her entire career, qualified for the NCAA singles championships in each of her four years and was named All-Big Ten four consecutive years. In doubles, she was a four-time NCAA championship participant and was All-American in 2001.

Since graduating with a degree in psychology, Dascoli has played professionally and has wins over several women ranked in the Top 200. She still plays professionally and now is in graduate school working on her masters degree in human development and family science.